Posts categorized "New technology"

Jul 15, 2013

Optimizing your small business
website can be a daunting task. Small business owners are being forced to
compete against large brands with huge marketing budgets. However, many
businesses are not striving for worldwide consumer visibility. Many of them
simply want to improve online presence their community. This is why small
business owners should direct their attention to local
SEO strategies.

Any business that gets a
substantial amount of their customers locally can benefit from local SEO. The
size and type of business does not matter. However, small businesses often have
the most to gain from local SEO because they do not have the marketing budgets
of larger brands. With a few simple local SEO strategies, small business can
see high returns and conversions.

Getting Started

Local SEO can be easy for small
businesses trying to break into the online market. You can start by
building up a community presence on Google+, Bing, and Yahoo. Interact with
your customers on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. You can even explore
niche social networks with people passionate about your brand’s line of work.
For example, if you run a local restaurant, try engaging your customers on a
site like Foodie.

Location Based Keyword
Targeting

Small businesses can also
utilize geo-modified search queries to increase their local SEO rankings. This
is because there is typically very little competition for geo-targeted search
phrases. For example, there is undoubtedly a much larger search volume for “used
cars” than the location targeted keyword, “used cars Indianapolis.” Although
small businesses do not have the SEO budget to rank on page one for general
keywords, they can target geo-modified search queries. In addition, consumers
that use these longer, location-based keywords are usually in the buying stage
of the sales funnel and therefore they bring high-conversion rates. To see the
demand for these geo-modified keywords and get suggestions for your small
business, visit Google’s
Keyword Tool.

Optimize Your Content

To give search engines the
proper location signals for your small business, it is important to make sure
that your business address has high visibility on your site. It should be in
the plain text content on every page. An effective way to clarify
location on every page is to include your company address in your site’s
footer. It is also helpful to include the address in your “contact us” page.

Google also receives location
information from other websites. Therefore, if you build links with anchor text
that includes a location, your local search engine ranking will increase. Think
about using online directories such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, and Foursquare to
clarify your location information being communicated to search engines.

There are several other
strategies that can improve your local SEO rankings. By targeting geo-modified
keywords, optimizing the content on your pages, and using links from other
websites, small businesses can increase their local search engine presence.

Today is a guest post from the wonderful Joseph Baker, a wonderful guy and friend of The Engaging Brand.

Jul 12, 2013

As a recent convert to the iPhone I was eager to download apps and have to say have had mixed results.

What the best iPhone apps offer is something to me...not an access point to their company, not a chance to find out more about the company...but value in my everyday life.

My apps are a mixture of entertainment, news and utility - but what unites the best apps is this...

They make my life easier.

In fact I would go as far as saying when I download apps that don't offer me real value, it has a negative effect on the brand. Why?

Because it feels they have thought..."oh must build an app" but there is no app development to tie value to my everyday life...thus allowing the brand to become an everyday part of world.

Apps are an access point, another shop window into your sales offer...however just like that shop window they have to be developed with the consumer in mind. They have to be...either entertaining, informational, educational or a basic utility.

As apps grow this becomes even more important because choice allows users to find what does provide a great customer experience and therefore value....

When you start the development of the app...remember the question to ask is not how can we make money...but how can we add value?

Jul 10, 2013

When it was new the website was a destination....and you needed to know the address to get there.

Then with the emergence of search engines the consumer gained help to find that destination. It was the equivalent of the satnav to the car....it helped you find the destination.

Then just like the satnav companies people realised that the raw content needed to be created...this time not maps but content - the birth of content marketing to deliver content the searcher needs (SEO), social marketing to provide the mechanisms for creating what I call the 'share-ability' factor to create authority.

Now map guidance is ubiquitous...it is available not just in the car but as we walk, as we move around..not just in the car. The map moved from being about the destination to being an access point for further information....and that is now the same for the web.

As Bob describes in the jpg....often the innovation is not easy to see...it is hidden and those that are curious about technological innvoation that can maximise the benefit for their brands. Let me explain....

If you think about the early 20th Century some of the innovation that truly changed the way the customers lived their lives...wasn't purely mechanical production...it was running water in our homes which prevented disease...it was electricity which allowed food to be kept, clothes to be cleaned...freeing up the women to enter the workforce. Electricity was an amazing concept but it was the curiousity of how it could be used that extended it wider than lighting that changed society. Think for instance how electricity is now being used to replace the horse, instead of the fuel powered car!

Digital technology (a by-product of electricity!) is the same. If we are going to kick start the economy, if we are going to develop new markets...it isn't about have I got a Facebook page...it is about how the concept of social networks can be used in different ways. It isn't about 3D printing per se, it is about how does this change the relationship with the consumer and how can we use it to provide even better service, part of what I call social business.